Perichbrothers wrote:
I had a kayak shop in Ventura for a long time with a dealership county exclusivity.
The manufacturer used us as a buffer to deal with issues both good and bad.

Another shop in Malibu dealt strictly with seconds,
which were actually covered under the limited warranty,
but he would never honor it.
I'd take their boat,
swap it out for free and charge a hassle fee.

The shop in Santa Barbara wouldn't do any hatch/custom installs,
and people would drive down.
Both easy money for a poor self employed guy,
but a hassle for a clean hand money middleman.

I'd get referral calls from the factory for warranty/fixit problems all over California.
It seemed like an important part of a dealership to me,
but to other shops that wasn't the quick phone call moneymaker.

If I were you I wouldn't protect or completely trust the one dealership.
There's behind the scenes schmoozing that goes with it that you'll only hear one side of,
and I'm sure my small time operation was just a taste of the big business reality.

TP